Toy figures have long delighted children with various mechanical motions that mimic human gestures, walking and dancing. Generally, affordable animated toys are capable of only very simple movements due to a relatively small number of components and motors. Thus, animated toys capable of complex movements generally have a large number of components and motors and tend to be expensive.
Since the electric motor in an animated toy tends to be the most expensive component, it has generally been the practice for one motor to drive a number of actuating parts through various geared members. Some effects achieved in this way include a doll whose torso twists while the arms move. While initially entertaining, such animations tend to be rather repetitive and not capable of variations necessary for more complex motions with a number of sequential movements.
As an example of a complex motion, a dance that continues to be popular with both children and adults is the Hokey Pokey. Although relatively simple for even the smallest child to do, attempts to incorporate these movements into a toy have been only modestly successful. A toy designed to do the Hokey Pokey as its primary function would tend to be expensive due to the requirements for sequentially putting forward and shaking a leg, an arm, and a head as well as spinning the entire toy round. Consequently, such toys tend to simulate such movements in a nonrealistic way.
At the other extreme, robotic toys that include multiple, independently controlled motorized actuators have been known to include programming to do the Hokey Pokey dance. These toys tend to be multi-functional in order to justify their increased complexity and cost. Thus, the actuation of the various body parts still tends to be disappointing in that their movement is not optimized for the Hokey Pokey.
Consequently, a significant need exists for a toy that can effectively mimic the human movements of a complex dance, yet achieve this effect economically.